2002 Agri-Marketing Conference student activities

Agri Marketing, July-August, 2002

This year's Agri-Marketing Conference & Trade Show, held April 17-19 in Nashville, hosted more than 400 students and advisors from 37 schools in attendance, including representatives from two Canadian universities.

Many student attendees participated in the Student Marketing Competition which drew 35 teams. Preliminary and semi-final rounds were held on Wednesday, April 17 and the finals were held on Thursday afternoon, Apri1 18. Students and advisors work diligently all year to create a marketing plan to present at the conference, and the competition is fierce, making judging difficult for the industry professionals who evaluated these presentations.

Twelve teams had what the judges were looking for and proceeded to the semi-final heats on the Wednesday afternoon, with one team from each heat making it to the final round. Students and advisors would both have to wait until that night's NAMA award ceremony to find out which teams would be presenting in the final four on Thursday.

In the lull of time between presentations and the announcement of the final four, teams attended critiques with their respective judges from the preliminary heats. Judges discussed individual marketing plans and presentations strengths and weaknesses, uncovering areas for improvement and lending encouragement for next year's marketing plan.

Thursday's final four competition included, University of Tennessee, The Ohio State University, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, and the University of Florida. The Ohio State's soy-based dessert had Happy Endings with fourth place honors. The vacuum-seal packaged corn of Florida was Sunshine Sweet in third and the University of Tennessee's BoviSync had synchronized at second place. In the end Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo had a Golden Roma with its processed yellow tomato and took home the national champion title.

Student NAMA members also work hard to develop an Annual Report for judging in the Outstanding Student Chapter Competition. The Annual Report contains information on membership recruitment, chapter communications, career development, financial and fundraising management, chapter management and chapter programs. The reports are submitted in March for judging and the awards are presented at the Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show in April, judging is conducted by the national Careers Committee.

This year, it was the University of Wisconsin Madison that received top honors in this competition. Second place was awarded to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, with Michigan State University finishing in third place. University of Guelph was presented with the Outstanding Developing Chapter Award, which is given to a school that has been accredited under three years.

Every year, NAMA honors two advisors with Outstanding Advisor awards. These awards are judged by the Careers Committee from nominations the students submit. This year, Cheryl Wachenheim with North Dakota State University received the Outstanding Advisor Award. Dave Englund with AIB received the Outstanding Advisor--Developing Chapter award.

This year marked the second year for the Outstanding Professional and Outstanding Professional Chapter award. Rod Delahey with Heyday Communications was honored with the Outstanding Professional award and the Badger Chapter was presented with the Outstanding Professional Chapter award.

Several students were awarded scholarships at the Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show. This year the ABEF awarded $15,000 in scholarships to student NAMA members, Julie Pedigo, the University of Tennessee--Knoxville, earned the $5,000 Successful Farming/R.C. Ferguson Scholarship. Two $2,000 ABEF Scholarships were awarded to Amanda Hoffman, University of Missouri--Columbia and James Lloyd Bensen--University of California--Davis.

A $1,000 ABEF Scholarship was given to Christine Lepple, University of Wisconsin--Madison. The Primedia Agribusiness Scholarship was awarded to Daniel Dogs, University of Wisconsin--Madison. The Lee AgriMEDIA scholarship was awarded to Jeffrey Olson, North Dakota State University. The fourth $1,000 Scholarship, the Mo-Kan NAMA Scholarship, was given to Tyler Ryder, Kansas State University.

Four $500 ABEF Scholarships were awarded to Michaela Hogan, Iowa State University; Krista Jiminez, Cal Poly--Pomona; Katie Goetz, New Mexico State University; and, Bethany Gries, University of Wisconsin--Madison.

In order to raise money for the ABEF which funds the Student Careers Program, students have an opportunity to sell raffle tickets. This year the prizes awarded were a home theatre system, portable DVD player and a digital camera. This program can be a great fundraiser for the student chapter. For every $10 ticket sold, the student chapter keeps $5. This year tickets were sold raising over $6,800 for the ABEF.

Other student activities at the Agri-Marketing Conference & Trade Show included a Career Fair for students to meet recruiting personnel and discuss future openings with agribusiness companies. Prior to the conference, these exhibitors received a book containing close to 200 student resumes. This allows them to pre-screen potential candidates and even set up interviews during the conference.